USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut, from its settlement in 1660, to January 1845 > Part 12
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It is worthy of note, that at this time and for many years afterwards, there was but one or two citizens at a time, who bore the title of Esq., denoting a Justice of the Peace. Mr. Birchard was the first civil magis- trate mentioned ; Lt. Thomas Tracy was in the Com- mission of the Peace from 1678 to 1685.
Richard Bushnell Esq. was the next magistrate, and some years later, Capt. Jabez Hide. As these became aged, Joseph Backus Esq. appears upon the stage, and a little later, Wm. Hide Esq. Next to these gentle- men, we find their two sons advancing as the fathers recede, viz., Ebenezer Backus Esq. and Richard Hide Esq. ; and these appear to have been all who bore the office and title before 1760.
The most conspicuous points at this time in town,
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and those where all notifications were ordered to be set up, were, the sign-post on the meeting-house plain -Joseph Backus' shop door-Benajah Leffingwell's gate post, and at the parting of the paths at the corner of Ebenezer Backus' garden. This last position is still a conspicuous one. The house stands alone, em- braced by highways, which run together above and below. It was the homestead of Joseph Backus Esq., familiarly known for many years as Mr. Justice Back- us, and afterwards of his son Ebenezer, who built the present house, and set out with his own hand the two fine elms before the door. One of the daughters of Ebenezer Backus married the second Gov. Trumbull.
In 1720, the first project for the erection of a Town house was started. Subscriptions were taken and liberty granted to set the building on the corner of the plain, but the measure not being generally popular, the house was not erected.
Fifteen years afterwards, the plan was resumed, and a penny rate granted towards defraying the expense. This vote, however, did not pass without vehement opposition, and a protest of thirteen citizens entered against it. The building was erected on the south corner of the parsonage, lot which is precisely the spot now occupied by the old Court-House. The same year, (1735) the inhabitants petitioned the General Assem- bly that the Supreme Court in March, and the Supe- rior Court in November, for New London Co. might be held in Norwich. The agents for the town in this business, were Capt. John Williams, Capt. Joseph Tracy, and Mr. Hezekiah Huntington. The petition was granted, and Norwich became a half-shire town. A building had been previously erected for a town jail, but a " new prison" was now built on the area of the plain, which with land near it, for a " prison-house,"
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was made over to the county. A whipping-post and pillory were also erected in the vicinity.
The road between New London and Norwich pass- ing through the Mohegan fields, was also considerably improved about this time. This road was first laid out by order of the General Assembly, previous to the year 1700. It was surveyed and stated by Joshua Raymond, who was remunerated with the gift of a fine farm upon the route.
The key of the town-house was formally de- 1737. livered into the custody of Capt. Joseph Tracy,
and a room ordered to be finished under his direction, in the garret, for the town's stock of ammu- nition. The following vote was then passed : "It is now ordered and enacted, that if any man shall smoke it, in the time of sessions of any town meeting, within this house, he shall forfeit the sum of 5 shillings."
Capt. Joseph Tracy was son to John Tracy, one of the thirty-five proprietors. He was a very respectable and dignified man, and for a long course of years was uniformly chosen moderator of all public meetings in alternation with Capt. Jabez Hide. He died in 1765, aged cighty-three. In 1745 we find the care of the town-house and arms committed to Capt. Philip Tur- ner, and this is the first time that gentleman's name appears on the records. He afterwards performed the duties of constable and selectman, and was captain of the troop of horse ;- a spirited band of young men whom he took much pride in parading and exercising. He died in 1755, aged thirty-nine. His son, Dr. Philip Turner, became a very eminent surgeon, being applied to in difficult cases from various parts of the country. His grandson, Dr. John Turner, was also distinguished for surgical skill.
In 1743 Messrs. Richard Hide and Ebenezer Harts-
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horn were appointed to survey the town, and draw a plan of it, embracing the course of the rivers and larger rivulets. The town now comprised eight eccle- siastical societies, viz : First, West, Newent, East, New- Concord, Chelsy, Hanover and Eighth ; but the First or Town Plot society still maintained its preeminence, possessing twice the number of inhabitants, and three times the amount of influence of any other. No cen- sus of the town appears till 1756, when the population stood-
Whites, 5,317
Blacks, 223-Total, 5,540.
Schools were maintained by what was called a country rate of forty shillings upon the thousand pounds, and all deficiences made up by parents and guardians. The schools were distributed over the town, and kept a longer or shorter period, according to the list of each society. In 1745 the appointment was as follows-
School at the landing place
to be kept, · . 3 months and 17 days. two in the Town-plot,
one at each end, . 53 months each.
at Plain Hills, . 2 months 19 days.
4 Waweekus Hill, . 1 16
Great Plain, 2 18
Wequanuk, . 2
15
on Windham road, . 2
11
If any of these schools should be kept by a woman, the time was to be doubled, as the pay to the mistress was but half of that to the master.
Law books and other publications for which the town were subscribers, were also generally distributed among the several societies according to their respective lists. Election sermons, and " the sermon books," were fre-
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quently made the subject of a town order. These last mentioned publications were probably " Russell's Seven Sermons," a book of considerable note in that day. The last record respecting books appears a little before the Revolutionary war, as follows,-
" Whereas, there are a number of books called the Say- brook Platform, now in the town treasury to be disposed of for the town's use, and also a number of Election Sermons, this town do now order the selectmen to distribute said books to, and among the several societies in this town, in proportion to the list of said societies."
In 1751 the selectmen were empowered to prosecute with vigor, all who should sell or convey land to strangers, and all sales of this kind were declared null and void. Orders were given likewise that no stran- gers should remain in the town without the public consent, and this consent seems to have been very cautiously dispensed. Applications were frequently made for permission to stay in town for a limited time, but this was seldom granted without some condition annexed ; such as, if he then remove-if he behave himself-if he do not become chargeable. These votes stretch down to 1769.
The inhabitants were but little given to change ; they may rather be selected as conspicuous examples of what has been called Connecticut Steady Habits. Offices, even of an annual tenure, were frequently held for a long course of years, by the same incumbent. The case of the Huntingtons, the time immemorial Town Clerks, has been already mentioned. The office of Town Treasurer is another instance, held by Daniel Tracy from the year 1735, and perhaps before, until after 1760, and probably till his death, in 1771. He was then eighty-three years of age. In later times, the two De Witts, of Chelsea, father and son, officiated
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as Society Clerks for a period of sixty years. Many similar instances of perpetuity of service faithfully rendered, without any respect to the cmolument, which was very trifling, might doubtless be gathered.
The office of Constable and Collector is one which we might expect to find less fixed, and more upon the plan of rotation than most others, yet Joseph Tracy Jun. held this office nearly thirty years in succession. In 1769 this faithful public servant, falling greatly into arrears in his accounts, presented a touching petition to the town, praying to be discharged from his obliga- tions, and stating that he was then a prisoner in his own house, " through fear of being confined in a worse placc."
" I have spent (said he) almost all my time in the busi- ness of my office, so that I have not had time to do any other for the support of my family ; and I have not ever crowded any poor man into prison for payment of his rate, but have shown favor to poor men to my own disadvantage, and turned every way to ease them. My long, unhappy and expensive Jaw suits with Capt. Abel, in the year 1751 and 52, put me behind hand, so that I could not ever recover, and when I found that I should fall in rears, I refused to be collector any longer ; and for many years past the townsmen have granted execution to the sheriff against me before I had collected the rate, and by that means all my funds went to the sheriff."
" In the space of twenty-seven or twenty-eight years that I have been collector, I have collected about thirty or forty thousand pounds, and I am informed that there is scarce one collector in the government that hath been collector half that time, but what hath been reduced to low circumstances thereby. What little I had of my own when I began I have lost entirely, which I suppose was not less than £300 lawful money."
Mr. Constable Tracy died 1787, aged eighty-one.
CHAPTER XXII.
Civil Affairs. Cases of Trespass. Chaises. Biographical Sketches. Africans.
IN 1759 a new Court House was commenced, fifty feet by forty. It stood on the south-west part of the Plain, just in front of its present situation. It was completed in a couple of years and placed under the care of Samuel Huntington, Esq. This gentleman, afterwards Governor of the State, was just then begin- ning to practice as an attorney. The Court House was removed, in 1798, from the area of the plain, to its present position, which is the site of the old Town House, that was standing when this was first built. It is still a respectable building, occupied by an acca- demical school.
A house for ammunition was built at the same time with the Court House, on the declivity of the hill near the Meeting-house. Some arms, a quantity of shot, and about 3000 lbs. of powder were deposited in it.
This Powder House was blown up in the year 1784. The train was laid by some unknown incendiary, but being discovered half an hour before the explosion, it might have been easily extinguished, if any one could have been found sufficiently daring to attempt it. The timely discovery, however, prevented any injury to life or limb, as all in the neighborhood were advertised of the danger and kept out of the way. The concussion was violent ; windows were broken, timbers loosened, roofs started, plastering cracked, and furniture thrown
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down. Where the building stood, the ground was left entirely free of rubbish ; not even a stone of the found- ation remained on the site, and only one of them could be identified afterwards, and that descended upon a roof at some distance, and passing through two floors, lodged in the cellar. A bag of cannister shot flew into the chamber window of the parsonage. The meeting- house was much shattered by this explosion.
To show that the rigid supervision of the public morals established by the first settlers, continued until a late period, a few minutes of cases of trespass will be given from MS. papers of Richard Hide, Esq., Jus- tice of the Peace, between the years 1760 and 1780.
" A man presented for profane swearing having been heard to say at the public house ___ damn me. Sentenced to pay the fine of 6s. and the costs, 6s. 3d.
Another for a similar offence, the culprit using the words Go to the devil. Fine 6s., costs Ss. 10d.
A breach of peace by tumultuous behavior,-fine 10s., costs 1Ss. Sd.
Case of assault, __ offence, knocking a man down with a chair,-fine 15s. and to pay costs, as follows, __ warrant 1s., summons 4d., court fees 2s., constable's travel five miles 1s. 3d., arresting 6d.
1771. A young woman presented for laughing, in a meet- ing for public worship, at Mr. Grover's, Sabbath evening ___ two females for witnesses __ culprit dismissed with a rep- rimand.
1774. Eben' Waterman Jr. presented by a grand juror, for profaning the Sabbath, in the gallery of the meeting-house in West Society, by talking in the time of divine service in a merry manner, to make sport. Plead guilty-fine 10s.
" To Richard Hide, Esq., of Norwich, one of his majesty's Justices of the Peace for the county of New London, comes Ezra Huntington of said Norwich, one of the grand jurors of said county, and on oath informs and presents, that Asa Fuller, apprentice to said Ezra Huntington, and Ede Trap, son to Thomas Trap, and Lemuel Wentworth, son to James Wentworth, and Hannah Forsey, and Elizabeth Winship, a minor, and daughter of the widow Winship, all of Norwich
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aforesaid, did, in Norwich aforesaid, on the evening follow- ing the 27th day of May last, it being Sabbath or Lord's Day evening, meet and convene together, and walk in the street in company, upon no religious occasion, all which is con- trary to the statute of this colony in such case made and provided.
For evidence take Peter Latham and Unice Manning. Dated in Norwich, this 11th day of June, 1770."
Five endorsements are made on the back of this presentment-one for each of the offenders-of the following import.
"June 13, 1770. Then personally appeared Hannah Forsey, and confessed guilty of the matter within, and sentenced to pay 3s. to the Treasury of the Town and Is. cost ._ Before Richard Hide, Justice of Peace .- Judgment satisfied."
The first person who set up a chaise in Norwich, was one Samuel Brown; he was fined for riding in it to meeting. In those simple and severe days, the rolling of wheels through the streets was considered a breach of the Sabbath. It would undoubtedly have a ten- dency to attract attention, and cause the thoughts to wander from the peculiar duties of the day. If a man at the present day, should arrive in town on Saturday night, in a balloon, and go to meeting in it on Sunday, it would be a similar case. Brown died about 1804, aged 90. Col. Simon Lathrop, also rode in a chaise at a very early period, but his effeminacy in this respect was excused on account of the feeble health of his wife. At the period of the revolution, only six chaises, or as they are now called, gigs, were owned in the place. Probably the number was not increased, until some time after the peace. The owners of these six, were, 1st, Gen. Jabez Huntington : [this gig was large, low, square-bodied, and studded with brass nails that had square and flat heads-it was the first in town that had
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a top which could be thrown back.] 2d, Col. Hezekiah Huntington. 3d, Dr. Daniel Lathrop : [this was long distinguished by its yellow body with a very large win- dow in the side. ] 4th, Dr. Theophilus Rogers. 5th, Elijah Backus Esq. 6th, Nathaniel Backus Esq. of Chelsea : [This afterwards belonged to Capt. Seth Har- ding.] Within the same limits, since that period, be- tween three and four hundred gigs have been owned . at one time; but recently this species of vehicle has given place, in a great degree, to waggons and other four wheeled carriages.
The first Druggist in Norwich, and the first in the state, was Dr. Daniel Lathrop. He resided three years in England, to perfect himself in his business, and afterwards made several voyages thither to select and purchase his stores. He imported £8000 worth of drugs at one time, and made a large fortune by the business. His was the only apothecary's establishment on the route from New York to Boston, and had a great run of custom, supplying all the country for nearly one hundred miles in every direction. Dr. Lathrop often received orders from New York. His drugs were always of the best kind, well prepared, packed and forwarded in the neatest manner.
Benedict Arnold and Solomon Smith were apprenti- ces in this shop at the same time. The latter, when of age, removed to Hartford, and there established the second Druggist's shop in the state. Dr. Lathrop fur- nished a part of the surgical stores to the northern army in the French war. His wife was a daughter of Gov. Talcott, a lady of strong mind, considerable cul- tivation, and extensive benevolence. Dr. Lathrop died in 1782. Madam Lathrop long survived him, and was regarded with universal esteem and veneration. Her death took place in 1806. The early childhood
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of a gifted daughter of Norwich, Mrs. L. H. Sigour- ney, was passed under the roof of this excellent lady. Having lost her own children, in their infancy, she lavished all her maternal affection and fostering care on this child of her heart, who repaid her tenderness with filial veneration, and has embalmed her memory in hallowed verse.
Dr. Lathrop left a legacy of £500 sterling to Yale College, and the same sum to the town of Norwich, towards the support of a free grammar school. This legacy, though subject to some restrictions, was accept- ed, and the school went into operation in 1787. Under the preceptorship of Mr. William Baldwin, it was for many years a large and flourishing school. It has since declined, and the restrictions in the will, render- ing the fund in a great degree valueless to the town, it was relinquished in 1843, with the consent of the Legislature, to the heirs at law.
Dr. Joshua Lathrop, the brother of the preceding, succeeded to the business, the property, the benevo- lence and the public esteem of his relative. He died in 1807, at the age of eighty-four. He was the last in Norwich of the ancient race of gentlemen, that wore a white wig.
The two gentlemen mentioned above descended from Samuel Lathrop, one of the early settlers, through his second son, Samuel Lathrop 2d. Israel, the third son, was the head of a numerous collateral line. He had seven sons and six daughters. One of the former was the Rev. John Lathrop, a distinguished minister of Boston. He was born at Norwich in 1740. After completing his education at Princeton, he became for a time, an assistant to Mr. Wheelock, in his Indian School at Lebanon, but in 176S, was ordained to the pastoral charge of the old North Church in Boston.
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HISTORY OF NORWICHI.
This church having been demolished by the British while they had possession of Boston, the society united with the new Brick Church, and Mr. Lathrop became the pastor of the United Society. He published a vari- ety of sermons, and died in 1816, aged seventy-five.
The celebrated Dr. Joseph Lathrop, of West Spring- field, Mass., whose theological works are so numerous, and have been so widely disseminated, was a descend- ant of Samuel Lathrop, through his fourth son Joseph, and was born at Norwich in October, 1731. The farm house in which his father lived, and where he was born, was not far from the Shetucket. A half-filled cellar in a farm now owned by G. B. Ripley Esq., still designates the spot. Dr. Lathrop was the pastor of one church sixty-three years, and for a long period was regarded with unusual veneration, as the Patriarch of the Congregational Churches of New England. Hc died in 1820, aged eighty-nine. His works comprise eight or ten volumes.
Col. Simon Lathrop was another distinguished scion of this stock. He was the third son of Samuel Lathrop 2d, and born in 1689. He was long a Captain of foot, and noted for his military bearing. He afterwards commanded a regiment, and was in the expeditions against Annapolis and Lewisburg. This regiment was not made up of the lowest grades of society, as is often the case in an army, but its members were mostly act- ive, useful and respectable men. After the troops had obtained possession of Louisburg, one of the British naval officers was walking in the street with a French lady of distinction, who had on a robe that trailed far behind, and under the train a lap dog was running. A young soldier belonging to Lathrop's regiment, out of mere roguery, threw something under the train at the dog. It yelled, the lady resented the insult, the
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officer ordered the offender to be bound and receive a certain number of lashes, but the regiment turned out of their quarters to a man, at a minute's warning, and rescued their comrade. Their Colonel, though not with them at the time, approved the deed, and the commanding officer allowed it to pass without repre- hension. Col. Lathrop was an exellent officer, and a great favorite with his men, but prudent, thrifty, and fond of adding land to land, and house to house. There was a doggerel song that the soldiers used to sing after their return from Capertoon, that alludes to this propensity .*
Col. Lotrop he came on As bold as Alexander : He want afraid, nor yet asham'd, To be the chief commander.
Col. Lotrop was the man, His soldiers lov'd him dearly ; And with his sword and cannon great, He help'd them late and early.
Col. Lotrop, staunch and true, Was never known to baulk it; And when he was engag'd in trade, He always fill'd his pocket.
Col. Lathrop died Jan. 25, 1775. He was an up- right man, zealous in religion, faithful in training up his family, and much respected and esteemed for his
* In connexion with this trait of character, the following anecdote is told, though perhaps an apology ought to be made for perpetuating . such a trifle. Some laborers were one evening sitting under a tree, and conversing about the moon. One said there was land there, as well as upon earth ; others doubted it. At length Col. Lathrop's negro man, who was near, exclaimed-" Poh ! poh ! no such thing-no land there, I'm sure. If there was, Massa have a farm there before now."
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abilities and social virtues. His wife was a Separatist, and he carefully abstained from any interference with her predilections, but was accustomed every Sunday to carry her in his chaise up to her meeting, half a mile beyond his own-then return to his own place of wor- ship, and after the service was over, go up town again after his wife.
Other descendants of the Rev. John Lathrop, besides the. Norwich branch, are numerous in New England ; but most of them adhere to the orthography of their ancestor, and spell the name Lothrop. Dr. Daniel Lathrop, who had seen the name of his ancestors in the register offices in London, introduced the more correct form into the Norwich family.
The Lathrops, Huntingtons, and other principal families of Norwich, owned slaves, whom they em- ployed for house-servants. The colored population was therefore numerous for a northern town, and it was not until near the ora of the revolution, that the reasona- bleness and equity of holding their fellow creatures in durance, began to be questioned by the citizens. At length it was whispered about that it was inconsistent to complain of political oppression, and yet withhold from others the privileges to which they were enti- tled :- to fight for liberty, and yet refuse it to a por- tion of their fellow creatures. Several persons volun- tarilyemancipated their slaves. The following instance is from a newspaper of the day :
"Dec. 1774. Mr. Samuel Gager, of Norwich, from a conscientious regard to justice, has lately liberated three faithful slaves, and as a compensation for their services, leased them a valuable farm on very moderate terms. Mr. Jonathan Avery also emancipated an able industrions negro man, from the same noble principle."
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But whether slaves or freemen, the Africans of Nor- wich have always been treated with forbearance and lenity. They have been particularly indulged in their annual elections and tramings. In former times, the ceremony of a mock election, of a negro governor, created no little excitement in their ranks. This was a great festival to them, but so demoralizing in its ef- fects, that it is strange it should have been tolerated by the magistrates, in a town so rigid in its code of morals. A very decent grave stone in the public burial ground, bears this inscription-" In memory of Boston Trow- trow, Governor of the African tribe in this town, who died 1772, aged 66."' After the death of this person, Sam Hun'ton was annually elected to this mock digni- ty for a much greater number of years, than his hono- rable namesake and master,-Samuel Huntington Esq., filled the gubernatorial chair. It was amusing to see this sham dignitary after his election, riding through the town on one of his master's horses, adorned with plaited gear, his aids on each side, a la militaire, him- self puffing and swelling with pomposity, sitting bolt upright, and moving with a slow, majestic pace, as if the universe was looking on. When he mounted or dismounted, his aids flew to his assistance, holding his bridle, putting his feet into the stirrup, and bowing to the ground before him. The Great Mogul, in a tri- umphal procession, never assumed an air of more per- fect self-importance than the negro Governor at such a time.
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